Many of the systems in use today across the securities industry have been built around proprietary, closed standards, which require users to reconcile different instrument codes across the trading, settlement or clearing process. This creates inefficiencies and prolongs the trade matching and reconciliation process.

Adopting BSYM for the i-Recs platform enables brokers, custodians and fund administrators that use i-Recs to enhance matching rates through a more efficient securities identification process that is based on the BBGID naming system. i-Recs offers a versatile and reliable reconciliation solution that is used globally by clients holding more than $100bn in assets under administration.

"Reconciliation is critical in trading operations, especially when trading in volume and across a broad range of asset classes. Reliable security recognition in this environment is vital. The BBGID enables us to enhance i-Rec's security identification process, which directly improves trade matching rates, and thereby can substantially reduce operational risk," said Duncan Wheatley, a Director at WWFS." We look forward to incorporating the BBGID into other WWFS applications beyond i-Recs to bring more efficiency to the reconciliation and risk management process."

Bloomberg's Open Symbology is based on the BBGID, a 12-digit alpha-numeric identifier, or tag, for financial instruments. The BBGID gives firms a free-use alternative to using proprietary instrument codes, which eliminates the redundant mapping processes, streamlines workflow and reduces operational risk.

Today, the BBGID offers unique and static identifiers for more than 100 million active and inactive securities globally and can be used by data providers, software vendors, exchanges and corporate and regulatory entities free of charge with no material impediments on use.